"Sharon Talbert" wrote in message
. washington.edu...
The so-called "no-kills" fill up quickly and become "no-accepts," turning
away all but the most "adoptable" animals. These shelters tend to be
nonprofits or privately funded who are not obligated to accept animals
they don't want. The animals rejected by the so-called "no-kill" shelter
go on to the city or county shelters (who are mandated to accept every
animal in their jurisdiction, regardless of available space) or are simply
abandoned. These publicly funded shelters then must kill animals unlikely
to find homes to make room for new arrivals.

I would venture to guess than a well operated conventional (public)
shelter saves more or at least as many lives as the so-called "no-kill"
facility. How many animals die in the process is a responsiblity shared
by both institutions; it's just that the "no-kill" gets to dodge the act
and the public shelter is stuck holding the bag (the one with a dead cat
in it).

Shelters that euthanise are forced to be creative and find solutions where
it can. We're installing a Special Needs Annex (commonly called the ringworm
trailer) to treat the sudden multitude of cats that have come up positive
with the fungus, where policy used to be euthanasia. We've also just gotten
permission from the Board to do some rearranging and construction on a very
new building to create more multiple rooms for adult cats (we have somewhere
in the area of 140 cages in the building, with the original playroom capable
of housing a maximum of 16 cats, I think) along with a new isolation room.
We offer a feral program for rehabilitation or alter-and-release. We have a
huge foster program that still hasn't been large enough to accomodate this
summer's influx of cats. No matter how big the organization, though, it
seems like the problem just gets bigger... or at least no smaller. It's a
line of work that makes one feel bipolar, for all the joy and depression
that happen routinely.

And of course the ultimate responsibility rests squarely on the shoulders
of irresponsible pet owners.

Sharon Talbert
Friends of Campus Cats